“Nice wheels,” I said.
“Cheap and unobtrusive,” said Murdo.
We got in, and Murdo drove out of the garage and headed through midtown Manhattan towards Interstate 278. We sat in silence, and I watched the traffic and the crowds as Murdo drove. I always liked cities, and I especially liked New York. I mean, I know, it’s crowded, and the traffic is horrible, the local government is staffed by petty martinets on a power trip, and large parts of it sometimes smell like a sewer, but it’s the biggest city in the United States, and it has an energy you can’t find anywhere else. I had come to New York a few times on jobs for Morvilind, and I had always wanted to come here with Riordan someday…
A deep stab of regret went through me. Part of me had secretly hoped I would see Riordan at the John Doe Hospital, that I could tell him that I was sorry, I was so sorry, that I hadn’t wanted to hurt him…
With the morning traffic, it took us about an hour and a half to get out of the New York area, and Murdo took us southwest on I-95 towards Washington and the ruins of Baltimore.
I was ready to talk.
“All right,” I said. “What next?”
“There may be a way,” said Murdo, “to get you out of your deal with Connor. At least a way to break the deal your Elven lady has with the Forerunner.”
“I’m game,” I said. If I could get out of this mess…God, that would be a miracle. “What do you mean?”
“Your lady and the Forerunner likely made a pact,” said Murdo. “Pacts like that have a common structure and common terms. Likely your lady and the Forerunner agreed not to harm each other for the duration of the pact. So, when your lady lent your services to the Forerunner, and the Forerunner then sent you to Connor, that means Connor is under an obligation not to kill you.”
I snorted. “Yeah, Nick’s been so keen to keep me safe. He’s tried to kill me already.”
“Has he?” said Murdo. “Has he explicitly tried to kill you himself? Ordered his men to kill you? Or has he done it a way that would leave him plausible deniability?”
“I don’t…actually, yeah,” I said. “My first job for Nicholas we went to Chicago. The plan was for all of us to escape in a helicopter. Nicholas tried to leave without me while I was distracted with the undead.”
Murdo nodded, accelerating to pass a semi in the right lane. “If you were killed, he could claim it wasn’t his fault. He had been forced to retreat, and you were too slow. Unfortunate, but not his fault.”
“Huh,” I said. That made sense. “Then Nicholas was telling the truth when we talked to him. He really was trying to find out who ordered the attack at the Rocky Mountain Mile. Because if he doesn’t deal with this, I can go back to my Elven lady and tell her that the Forerunner’s minions broke the deal.”
Murdo nodded. “Your patron would have to keep her word. The Elven nobles are many things both good and bad, but they keep their word. If you can prove to your patron that Connor broke the deal, she won’t be able to take any action against your husband and son.”
“That could work,” I said. If I could convince Morvilind that it was Nicholas’s fault the deal had fallen apart, I might get out of this mess yet.
“And if we formally break the deal,” said Murdo, “that means you can go to the Inquisition with everything you know about Connor and bring him down.” He paused. “Anonymously, of course.”
“Yeah,” I said. I wouldn’t even need to do it anonymously. I had the personal phone number of the Lord Inquisitor himself. Arvalaeon had locked me in the Eternity Crucible for a century and a half, and the asshole owed me a favor. I would be more than happy to point him at Nicholas. “But what about you?”
“Eh?” said Murdo.
“Nicholas has proof that you murdered your superior officer in the Legion,” I said. “If he goes down, I have no doubt he’ll make sure you go down with him.”
Murdo smiled, one of the few genuine smiles I had ever seen on him. “Is that what he told you?”
I frowned. “It is.”
“Good thing Connor never lies to you, right?” said Murdo. “Because I didn’t murder my superior officer and I left the Legion voluntarily. Connor does have a hold over me, yes. But it’s not what you think it is, and it’s not what he thinks it is. He is in a position to hurt someone I love. But if he goes down, he’ll lose that power, and we’ll both be free of him.”
I said nothing for a moment, thinking it over.
“Then we’ll try it your way,” I said. “Let’s go to Baltimore and play this out.”
Murdo nodded and kept driving.
I thought about what he had said and came to two conclusions.
One, Murdo was lying to me.
I knew he hadn’t told me the whole truth. He had paid for my stay at the John Doe Hospital, and I was pretty sure Nicholas hadn’t given him a company credit card or a briefcase full of hundred-dollar bills. Murdo had known about the John Doe Hospital, as well. Whoever Rory Murdo really was, he had high-level connections.
Was he a Homeland Security operative? An Inquisition agent? Maybe even a Shadow Hunter? I hadn’t seen any sign of a Shadowmorph symbiont on him, but Shadow Hunter training might explain his superb combat skills.
He had his own secrets, just as I had mine.
My second conclusion was that he was right. I was about to find out if I could trust him, and so far, he had kept faith with me.
I would keep giving him opportunities to prove worthy of trust.
And if he betrayed that trust…well, with my brother’s life on the line, to say nothing of Nicholas’s plan, I would do what I had to do.
But I hoped I wouldn’t have to kill him. I was beginning to like Rory Murdo.
He was the closest thing to a friend I’d had in a long, long time.
Chapter 10: Conflict Mediation
We drove past the burning ruins of Baltimore and arrived at Nicholas’s base late in the afternoon.
Murdo rolled up to the front gate, and I stared at the warehouse yard. It was deserted, the grim concrete building rising against the harsh light of Baltimore’s pyre to the north. There were three men in jumpsuits manning the security booth at the gate, and as Murdo came to a stop, I saw Mitchell Swathe emerge from the warehouse and run towards us.
I took a deep breath and cleared my mind, calling magic to fuel my spells. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and I didn’t know how Nicholas would react when I threw the treachery of his underlings in his face. I knew he wanted me dead. On the other hand, I was pretty sure he couldn’t rob the Royal Bank without my help, and whatever it was he wanted in Vault 19, Deposit Box 547, he couldn’t continue his grand plan without it.
He might try to kill me. He might try to force me to stay.
Either way, I had to be ready.
Swathe jogged towards the car. “Murdo, where the hell have you been? We…”
Murdo leveled a pistol at Swathe’s face. “Back the hell off. Right now.”
Swathe’s eyes went wide, and he took a step back. Behind him, the other guards raised their weapons. I lifted my hand and called magical fire, a whirling sphere of flame appearing above my palm. Murdo blocked most of the driver’s side window, but my control was good enough that I could send my sphere zipping past Murdo and through Swathe’s skull with an effort of will.
“You were supposed to have reported back days ago,” said Swathe.
“To do what? To get stabbed in the back again?” said Murdo. “Someone almost killed Miss Stoker and me in Washington, Swathe. Someone with the authority to order up a bunch of anthrophages and orcish mercenaries from Venomhold. Real convenient how you weren’t there when the hammer dropped. Like you knew it was coming in advance.”
“For God’s sake, Murdo,” said Swathe. “I didn’t know a damn thing about this. I was in Washington. What kind of idiot orders an attack near the headquarters of Homeland Security and hangs around for it? Morelli and I sat in a roadblock for three hours until we got away. Why would I put myself
at that kind of risk?”
“Don’t know and don’t care,” said Murdo. “Where’s Connor? We need to have a word with him.”
“He’s waiting for you in the conference room,” said Swathe. “I’m supposed to take you up there as soon as you arrive.”
“Then let’s go have a talk with Connor,” said Murdo.
He parked by the door, and we got out, the cracked asphalt gritting beneath my pink running shoes. Swathe gave me an incredulous look, and I grinned my mirthless grin at him, the fireball still spinning above my palm.
Murdo gestured with the gun. “You go first.”
Swathe started to protest, then looked at my fireball and then nodded. “Fine. Follow me.”
We walked through the abandoned truck docks, past Nicholas’s workshop, and climbed the stairs to the conference room. Inside a crowd had already gathered. Hailey, Morelli, and Vass sat on the left side of the table. Hailey was scowling, Morelli was calm, and Vass was cheerfully sipping from a cup of coffee. Corbisher and Lorenz sat on the right side. Corbisher was wearing his usual suit, and Victor Lorenz had donned his Rebel uniform of cargo pants and camouflage jacket and beret. He made a show of ogling me as I walked into the conference room, but I ignored him.
Nicholas stood against the back window, outlined against the distant pyre of Baltimore. Like Lorenz, he was wearing combat fatigues. Lorenz made them look good. Nicholas looked both good and dangerous. There was a pistol at his belt, and his cold blue eyes settled on Murdo and me as we entered.
Three anthrophages stood near him.
They wore black suits, but they were in their true forms, their yellow eyes fixed on me, their thin gray lips peeling back from their black fangs. I felt their hunger as they stared at me, but it was something different from the hunger in Lorenz’s eyes. The anthrophages want to rip me apart and feast on my innards, as they had done so many times in the Eternity Crucible.
Wretched damned things. If this came to a fight, I was going to enjoy burning them.
“You’re late,” said Nicholas as Swathe moved to the wall.
Murdo shut the door behind us, his pistol still in hand.
“We’ve been looking forward to seeing your video, Miss Stoker,” said Nicholas. “I think we…”
“Shut the hell up, Nick,” I said in a quiet voice.
His eyes narrowed. The tension in the room tightened further.
“We’re done,” I said, pointing at him with my left hand, the fireball still whirling above my right hand. “You broke our deal.”
“I did nothing of the sort,” said Nicholas, voice calm, eyes hard.
“Yeah?” I said. “Twice now you’ve tried to kill me. And not in a plausibly deniable way like at Chicago. You sent the anthrophages after me at the Rocky Mountain Mile, and you sent them after me in Washington.”
“Neither attack was carried out under my orders,” said Nicholas. “Do you really think I would be foolish enough to order an explicit operation in Washington DC itself? It was nearly a disaster. Homeland Security and the Inquisition are on high alert, and the Elven nobles of Washington are keeping their men-at-arms ready for battle. Breaking into the Bank will be all the harder after that fiasco.”
“And yet the attack happened,” I said. “Either you ordered it, which means you’re a moron, or one of your toadies here ordered it, which means you need to grow a pair and get your pet morons under control.” I had never challenged his authority in front of his people like this, but it was my best chance to get out of this deal. “When the Forerunner made his deal with my Elven lady, I bet that deal included the provision that you wouldn’t try to kill me until I had stolen all three things for you. Oh, sure, you could try to bully me and threaten me and arrange unfortunate and tragic accidents, but you couldn’t kill me or order my death.” I grinned my joyless grin at him. Hailey flinched a little. “Well, you either ordered the attacks, or one of the people under your command did it. That makes it your responsibility. I’m walking out of here, returning to my patron, and telling her that the Forerunner’s pet broke the deal.”
“And if I try to stop you?” said Nicholas.
I kept grinning. “Then we’re going to have it out and see who walks alive out of this room.”
The anthrophages hissed at me, snapping their fangs. The others remained motionless, tense with the promise of impending violence.
“I see,” said Nicholas. “Well, Murdo, what do you think of this?”
“I left the Legion and joined your organization because I was betrayed,” said Murdo. “If you betray us in turn, then I know I made the wrong choice.”
“Us?” said Nicholas in a quiet voice. “You and Miss Stoker are ‘us’ now? How very interesting.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think about anything,” I said. “Consider this the formal notice that my lady’s pact with the Forerunner has been violated. Either we’re walking out of this room and reporting to her, or we’re walking out of this room after we kill you all.”
The silence stretched on and on. I saw Morelli’s hand gliding towards his pistol, I felt the pulses of magic as Hailey and Corbisher and Lorenz all began pulling together power for a spell. I watched Nicholas’s hard, handsome face, his cold blue eyes digging into me.
And then he did something I did not expect.
He smiled.
“And what if, Kat,” said Nicholas, “I agreed with you?”
I blinked. “What?”
“The terms of the Forerunner’s agreement with your patron have been breached,” said Nicholas. “I did not order the attempts on your life, Kat, but men under my command did, which means the responsibility is mine. I accept that fully…and I accept that it is necessary for me to make restitution under the terms of the agreement.”
I hadn’t expected that. “Restitution.”
“Yes,” said Nicholas. “By punishing the guilty parties.”
He moved with lightning speed, drawing the pistol at his belt and leveling the weapon at his target.
Corbisher flinched, gazing at the barrel of the weapon pointed at his skull. It was a big pistol, a .50 caliber semiautomatic. The recoil would be monstrous, but Nicholas was strong enough to handle it, and he had taken a proper shooter’s stance.
Just one of those bullets would collapse Corbisher’s forehead.
“Nicholas,” said Corbisher, his scarred face gone bloodless, “I…”
“Stop talking, Martin,” said Nicholas.
Corbisher swallowed, his eyes darting back and forth, the vein in his temple throbbing.
“Someone,” said Nicholas, “has been going behind my back. Despite the necessity of including Miss Stoker’s skills in my plans, someone has undertaken to kill her without my permission. One of you wasted valuable resources in a futile and stupid plan to kill Miss Stoker. Even worse, one of you went over my head and contacted the Knight of Venomhold without my permission.” I blinked in surprise. “That led to the waste of a squad of skilled and very expensive orcish security contractors, to say nothing of the anthrophages, vehicles, and a large quantity of ammunition and supplies.”
“Nicholas,” stammered Corbisher. “I…I didn’t…”
“We are at war, ladies and gentlemen,” said Nicholas. “We are fighting for the victory of the Revolution and the survival of humanity itself. In a time of war, there can only be one punishment for mutiny and insubordination.”
Corbisher’s face had gone bone white beneath his scars. He was a reasonably powerful wizard, and he had already gathered magical power, but he would not be fast enough to cast a spell before Nicholas’s bullet redecorated the inside of his head.
Then Nicholas pivoted, swinging his pistol to aim at Vass.
Vass didn’t notice for a heartbeat. He had been watching Corbisher’s terror with obvious amusement, but now his eyes went wide.
“You disappointed me, Vass,” said Nicholas.
“What?” said Vass. “You don’t understand! That girl will be the ruin of us all! I
had to do it! She will…”
He started to rise, but before he did, Nicholas fired three times. The top of Vass’s head blew off and spattered against the wall, his heavy body landing back in his chair. Hailey shrieked in surprise as some of Vass’s blood splattered on her sleeve. Morelli only raised an eyebrow.
Nicholas lowered his gun. The harsh smell of mingled blood and gun smoke flooded my nostrils.
“I trust,” said Nicholas at last, “that since the traitor has been punished for his misdeeds, that this is adequate restitution for the attack, Miss Stoker.” He smiled. “Certainly, if you run back to your Elven lady and pour out your tale of woe, she will tell you that restitution has been granted and that you ought to return to fulfill the deal.”
I glanced at Murdo.
He grimaced, nodded at me, and returned his pistol to his shoulder holster.
“Yeah,” I said, looking at Vass’s corpse. “You’re a real leader of men, Nicky.”
“You three,” said Nicholas, gesturing at the anthrophages. “Clean up the mess.”
So that was why the anthrophages were here. Nicholas had planned this little bit of theater from the beginning. Two of the anthrophages grabbed Vass’s corpse and carried it out of the room. The third cleaned up the spilled blood and brains by the simple expedient of dropping to its knees and licking them up with grisly grunts of pleasure.
Hailey turned a shade of green, got up, and walked to the other side of the room, her arms wrapped around herself.
“I find it hard to believe,” said Lorenz, “that Vass could betray us like that.”
“The evidence is all there,” said Nicholas. “He had been sending messages through our regular couriers to Venomhold, arranging for both the attack at Denver and the second in Washington. The Knight of Venomhold was most displeased when I spoke with her.” He shrugged. “If you don’t believe me, I have all the evidence gathered, and you may review it at your leisure. Vass was indisputably guilty.” He looked at Corbisher and smiled. “A salutary lesson for us all, is it not?”
Corbisher managed a nod.
Right. This little murder hadn’t just been staged for my benefit, had it? I was willing to bet that Corbisher had been the mastermind. He had just used Vass as his courier. Plus, to be blunt, Corbisher was far more valuable to Nicholas than Vass. Helicopter pilots were common. Financiers of Corbisher’s skill were not, and Corbisher was also a Gatekeeper and a wizard.
Cloak Games: Hammer Break Page 16
